Our Gang Comics Issue 3
Overview Our Gang # 3, also known as "The Great Our Gang Circus," was the third issue in Walt Kelly's Our Gang Comic Book series. The issue was first released by Dell Comics around January to February of 1943. It was the first comic in the series to feature Happy Laughlin, who had recently been added to the Our Gang film series as a replacement for Spanky McFarland. The Our Gang material for the book is covered for ten pages. Main Characters * Buckwheat Thomas * Froggy Laughlin * Happy Laughlin * Janet Burston * Mickey Gubitosi Supporting Characters * Mickey's Mother * Miss Rappopork * Rags the Dog The Story Plot: Mickey decides that the gang should have a circus in his back yard. Mickey is to be the ringmaster, Buckwheat a wild man, Janet a bareback rider, Froggy a clown on a trapeze, and Happy a strong man. Mickey plans on getting his mother's permission to use the back yard, but she is too busy preparing for a ladies' auxiliary meeting. Nevertheless, Mickey decides he can still have the circus, as his mother never said he could not. The kids prepare thier makeshift circus, complete with a wire for Froggy's "death-defyin' glide," tied between Mickey's house and the barn. Buckwheat and Happy paint Rags the dog to look like a tiger. Janet brings a horse costume, which Buckwheat and Happy are to wear for Janet's act. A man from Smith's Ice Cream arrives at the house to deliver ice cream for the ladies' auxiliary meeting. Janet, however thinks that Mickey bought the ice cream to sell at the gang's circus, and promptly sells the ice cream to the neighborhood kids for five cents. Meanwhile, Froggy has placed some of his pets in a fish bowl, passing them off as a "Feerse and Wild Reptils" attraction. After a kid gets bitten by Froggy's turtle, promptly breaking the fish bowl, Froggy puts his pets in the now empty ice cream bucket. Things start to grow hectic, when the Gubitosi's maid gets caught in the middle of the circus action. Pretty soon, Miss Rappopork arrives at the house, gets trampled by Janet's fake horse, and finds herself unintentionally replacing Buckwheat as the rear end of the horse. More panic results when the bucket of Froggy's pets is let loose in the house. A now angered Miss Rappopork is discovered under the horse costume, while the Greenpoint Police Department arrives at the house to break up a reported brawl. Miss Rappopork gets so angry that she punches one of the police officers in the face, resulting in her being arrested. Quotes * "The pulley rope will hold me up. I'll just ride across in a death-defyin' glide!" - Froggy Laughlin * "If you fall off, you'll kill the audience." - (Mickey Gubitosi) * "For my act as a bareback rider, you and Happy can be inside the make-believe horse." - (Janet Burston to Buckwheat Thomas) * "I won't be the rear end!" - (Happy Laughlin) * "That's no wild man-that's only Buckwheat." - (Kid) * "Look more fiercer, Buckwheat." - (Happy Laughlin) * "It's a female woman!" - (Froggy Laughlin) * "Are you the instigator of this foul outrage?!!" - (Miss Rappopork) * "No, ma'm-I'm not an incubator." - (Froggy Laughlin) Notes/Triva: Sequence * Previous Issue: Our Gang # 2 * Next Issue: Our Gang Comics # 4 Category:Our Gang Comics